I've watched a few more films on my 80s nostalgia binge. Thought i'd watch Tron, which I actually haven't seen since the 80s. It was more than I remember, and far better. This led me to watch Tron Legacy, and I must say that it is a very fitting tribute to the original. It's been updated for the 21st century, obviously, as the visuals are beautifully done. Even the tanks and the flying things have been updated. For any fan of the original film, and for anyone else, actually, I highly recommend seeing it, although watch the original first.

This led me to watch Willow, a film i've not seen since the 90s. I'd forgotten exactly how good this film was, back when a George Lucas/Ron Howard/Steven Spielberg collaboration was the height of excellence. Plus it has His holy people in.

Roland Deschain - Half prophet, half gunslinger, all Pastafarian!

"Since Alexander Pearce escaped, over 250 people have disappeared in the Tasmanian wilderness. No remains have ever been found." - Dying Breed

Alien would be the "sequel" that deals with the xenomorphs. The Prometheus sequel would deal with [SPOILER]the home planet of the engineers/space jockeys, why they created us, and why they eventually wanted to destroy us.[/SPOILER]

"How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, 'This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant. God must be even greater than we dreamed'? Instead they say, 'No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.'" - Carl Sagan

"To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection." - Henri Poincaré

^ Yeah, i've accidentally read too much about it, so I kinda know what you're saying without having to read it. I'm definitely going to see it this week, and shall take in a couple of other films on the same day. or maybe one other film. I'm not decided on that point yet.

Roland Deschain - Half prophet, half gunslinger, all Pastafarian!

"Since Alexander Pearce escaped, over 250 people have disappeared in the Tasmanian wilderness. No remains have ever been found." - Dying Breed

- The people who were saying "This is The Hangover for women" are either idiots, or were making that comparison based on the trailer alone. The Hangover was a straight-up comedy. This is more like a drama with comedic bits scattered throughout. - There were plot elements they left unresolved. [SPOILERS]Rudolph's character made this big deal about how the cost of the wedding was stressing her out, but once she and Wiig made up, it just became a quick joke. Wiig's romantic life was cleaned up, but she still ends the film unemployed and living with her mom. Classic Hollywood reinforcing of traditional values, as long as the woman has a man at the end, she is fulfilled as a human being. Speaking of old-fashioned notions, the whole "funny ethnic food gave people food poisoning" gag was pretty demeaning.[/SPOILER] - The blonde and redhead bridesmaids were one-dimensional, and had almost no lines after the airplane scene. - It was obvious that Jon Hamm was having a lot of fun, and it was nice to see Chris "have you tried turning it off and on again" O'Dowd getting more stateside exposure.

"How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, 'This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant. God must be even greater than we dreamed'? Instead they say, 'No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.'" - Carl Sagan

"To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection." - Henri Poincaré

Disclaimer: Anything I say on topics of Politics, Economics, Pychology, History, really anything not concerned with the natural sciences and mathematics and especially topics concerning human behavior and/or thoughts, that is not associated with a proper reference is pure speculation on my part.

It's funny, the film is from 2000, the original book was published in 1998, and it's from Japan, but the themes of recession, high youth unemployment and unrest, and the animosity-driven generation gap makes it feel very relevant to America's current economy (recession, high youth unemployment, occupy wall street, old fart teabaggers screaming "keep the government out of my medicare!"). Then again, I guess the current state of America and Japan's Lost Decade share a lot in common.

"How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, 'This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant. God must be even greater than we dreamed'? Instead they say, 'No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.'" - Carl Sagan

"To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection." - Henri Poincaré

^ That's a great film. You're right about the themes, though. It's such a brutal film, not to mention so very relevant to many generations. I've seen it several times. I understand The Hunger Games is quite similar, but with a different tone. Should really read/watch that.

I watched Hamlet 2 with Steve Coogan and Elizabeth Shue last night. I found it to be very enjoyable; a little silliness to cheer me up. Even if you think it's a little slow at the beginning, it's worth watching just for the "performance" at the end. Pure brilliance!

Roland Deschain - Half prophet, half gunslinger, all Pastafarian!

"Since Alexander Pearce escaped, over 250 people have disappeared in the Tasmanian wilderness. No remains have ever been found." - Dying Breed

On the surface, or just based the trailer, it looks like a straightforward slacker comedy, but it's much more than that. Sure, there's some of it, Jason Siegel is channeling The Dude into Jeff, but there's a lot of personal growth and drama with the family. It's made pretty clear early on that, even though he has a job and a car, that the brother is just as much a man-child as Jeff.

Roland Deschain wrote:I understand The Hunger Games is quite similar, but with a different tone.

From what I understand, The Hunger Games is more about an oppressive, totalitarian centralized power exploiting the rural states.

"How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, 'This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant. God must be even greater than we dreamed'? Instead they say, 'No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.'" - Carl Sagan

"To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection." - Henri Poincaré

The last movie I actually saw and enjoyed was Snow White and the Huntsman. I know plenty of people who are down on the movie in general and on Miss Stewart in particular, but I just don't care. I get a huge kick out of watching Kristen Stewart, the guy who plays the Huntsman is not too bad, and Charlize is beyond excellent as the powerful and deranged Queen. And it's so nice to see some new interpretations of old stories. (Also, the fairy grotto is exactly the kind of fairy grotto I was always searching for as a kid, certain I would stumble upon it if I just kept looking.)

"There's a hell of a good universe next door, let's go!" e e cummings

"And the new day was a great big fish." Terry Pratchett

"WHAT CAN THE HARVEST HOPE FOR, IF NOT FOR THE CARE OF THE REAPER MAN?" Terry Pratchett (yes again, I'm afraid. He's my absolute favourite author)

I do want to see that one of these days. Heard a fair amount of nerd rage from some comic fans, but it looks like a lot of fun. Glad to hear about freeze frames, I like things like that and slomo in comic book movies, which is why I didn't mind all the slowing down-speeding up shenannigans in say, Frank Miller's 300, because I took those to be akin to comic frames.

Much better way of making a movie feel like a comic book than, for instance, the Joel Schumaker school of directing.

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I do want to see that one of these days. Heard a fair amount of nerd rage from some comic fans, but it looks like a lot of fun. Glad to hear about freeze frames, I like things like that and slomo in comic book movies, which is why I didn't mind all the slowing down-speeding up shenannigans in say, Frank Miller's 300, because I took those to be akin to comic frames.

Much better way of making a movie feel like a comic book than, for instance, the Joel Schumaker school of directing.

Then this one is for you. He's constantly getting caught in a police chopper floodlight, say, looking like this:

[edit]except not muscle-bound-y [edit]

I will honor Monkey in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.~Charles "Darwin" Dickens